Editorial: The FBI’s surveillance air force

We’ve come to live in an era when people don’t know who may be listening or watching, even when they’re on their own property. The Associated Press reported last week that the FBI has been flying over U.S. cities, spying on citizens.

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The FBI has developed a civilian air force, “obscured behind fictitious companies,” according to AP, which traced at least 50 aircraft back to the FBI.

Those planes flew more than 100 times in 11 states, over a 30-day period from late April to late May. They flew over both major cities and rural areas.

Aircraft that once were used to help with surveillance on the ground now are equipped with high-tech cameras and sometimes technology capable of tracking thousands of cellphones. The Drug Enforcement Administration uses planes in a similar manner, according to AP.

The FBI said it does not use the planes for bulk collection of information or mass surveillance but does for ongoing investigations, often without a judge’s approval. The report about the flights raised questions about Americans’ privacy just as Congress debated whether to extend another program that collected domestic telephone records.